Sunday, February 28, 2016

Snakku is a Japanese snack subscription that sends both premium, hard-to-find snacks as well as some old favorites. This month celebrates Valentine's day and includes chocolates and pink goodies. The information card says that in Japan, Valentine's Day is celebrated with the women giving chocolates to the men! I didn't even know Valentine's Day was celebrated in Japan so that was news to me.

One of the most beautiful parts of the Snakku subscription is the presentation. This is truly a gift and is packed with expertise and care. If you want to give a gift of snacks, there is no better way to spoil a friend of loved one than to send Snakku.

Boxes come wrapped in either a real furoshiki cloth or a paper cloth furoshiki wrap, depending on your subscription length.

The Cost: $38.95/month

What You Get: You will receive a beautifully packaged box of 10 - 15 expertly curated, hand-picked snacks that you can only find in Japan, along with a selection of familiar Japanese snacks. Information describing the snacks and their creators will also be included.

Snakku has also introduced a Tasting Box that is $14.95 and will have 5-7 curated snacks in it. So if you're looking longingly at this box but $38.99 is prohibitive, this is your chance to experience Snakku much more affordably.

Chocolate Arare- These are rice crackers from a shop in Kyoto that has been making these for ten years. The crackers are covered in chocolate and come in two pouches, one bitter and one sweet. The bitter pouch has matcha green tea, dark chocolate and white chocolate crackers and the Sweet one has strawberry, milk chocolate and white chocolate covered crackers. They're very tasty, too. The combination of salty and sweet works really well.

Chocolate Fruit Crunch- These premium snacks are made by a boutique shop in Hakata, Southern Japan. They come in two flavors, Strawberry and Blueberry. They really, really remind me of something but for the life of me I can't think of what it is. They're made from real fruit, chocolate and cream from Hokkaido.

Pururun Stawberry Mochi- This mochi is stuffed with strawberries which are in season right now in Kyushu! You won't get this anywhere else! My husband loves mochi and ate both of these very quickly.

Gold Okaki- These were my favorite snack in the box and I wished there were more. These are crepe crackers dipped in a ginger emulsion which hardens over the cracker. Then they're topped with gold foil flakes which are made by hand in Kanazawa. They've been making gold foil for 500 years! I'm sad I probably won't be able to get anymore of these delicious, ginger-tastic cookies.

Strawberry Heart Pocky- A Japanese snack box in February wouldn't be complete without some kind of pink Pocky sticks and Snakku doesn't disappoint. This is a nice big box with two bags of Pocky inside and they got eaten in record time.

Green Tea KitKat- I'm not a big fan of green tea and when I was in Japan I bought some of these and didn't like them. My husband, though, enjoyed them. He likes green tea flavored anything pretty much.

Umaibo- These are funny corn tube/stick things. They're like the size of a hot dog but they're made of... cheeto puff type material. It's hard to describe. It tastes... I don't know what it tastes like. But it's addictive. At first I thought I wouldn't like it and then I ate the whole thing.

VERDICT: Snakku is always a joy to open! I really like the fact that I can get unique Japanese snacks and not just the brightly colored kind with anime characters on it. This is a Japanese snack box like no other. I do suggest the Tasting Box if you're wanting an affordable taste test. I still think this is a little pricy for the snacks included but with the beautiful packaging and furoshiki cloth, it can be worth it.